Ally Loprete

The #1 stress creator during the holidays is debt. We have made sacrifices. We've left our double-income-no-kids lifestyle long behind and ventured into a hand-to-mouth way of living. We've made choices to stay home with the kids and build side businesses to supplement our expenses. We don't spend extravagantly and although we survive each year, we still manage to go deeper into debt. The holidays expect more from us. Because we don't have disposable income, we fall back on the only thing that will get us through...credit. American households have a substantial amount of credit card debt. Of the estimated 46.7% of households that carry a balance, the average debt is a whopping $15,328 as of September 2012. What does this mean? Credit card debt is holding fairly steady – but whether or not that’s a good thing is up for debate. On the one hand, higher consumer spending puts the economy on a positive track. Higher spending leads to more jobs and higher incomes, which in turn lead to higher spending. However, if